AKIPRESS.COM - One of the great American authors, Philip Roth, has died aged 85.

The Pulitzer, National Book Award and Man Booker International Prize-winning novelist's work drew its inspiration from Jewish family life, sex and American ideals, BBC reported.

His works included American Pastoral, I Married a Communist and Portnoy's Complaint.

The New York Times reported that a close friend of Roth's said he had died of congestive heart failure.

Roth first found success with his short story collection, Goodbye Columbus, published in 1959.

A decade later his sexually explicit novel Portnoy's Complaint catapulted him to notoriety, making him a celebrity in the US.